


Tall Tales

by afflatussolace



Series: where you go fate will surely follow [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Lalafell Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Slice of Life, also brief mentions of another unnamed female OC shipped with g'raha, but the main focus is WOL and g'raha's friendship, major 5.3 story spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27129121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afflatussolace/pseuds/afflatussolace
Summary: No story is better recited than by the Warrior of Light herself.Reuploaded from myblog. For the ffxivwrite2020 event held on tumblr.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch & Warrior of Light
Series: where you go fate will surely follow [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971088
Kudos: 4





	Tall Tales

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #03 - Muster  
>  _"summon up (a feeling, attitude, or response)"_

  
  


There’s few things in life more heartening than a pair of youthful eyes, untainted by the hardships and ruthlessness of the world, staring right up at one as if she was their entire world. And yet she’s found herself surrounded by not one, not two but four pairs of such eyes. Their stare was as hopeful as they were pleading, however.

“Oh please, please tell us another story, miss!”

“Yes!! I wanna know just how you managed to get so strong!! Tell us about what other kinds of villains you’ve had to fight!”

She was a woman of a great many talents; a hero not just in the field of combat, but also a prodigious artisan, highly respected botanist.. and rumored to be the infamous Azuro the second to boot. But for a famed figure of such renown, she was helplessly inept with speaking - more so than she was at lifting her sword without the help of her own mana. Nearly a whole ten summers may have come and gone when she’d last remembered herself, a pathetic little girl who could barely even muster the courage to ask for directions.. and while she was certainly not the same woman she was before, Illya hardly considers herself a great minstrel.

“Well, it seems you’ve got quite an audience for yourself here.” Somebody chirps, voice too jovial considering he must have certainly gotten out of bed rest against the wishes of a certain someone. “Might I be fortunate enough to hear the Warrior of Light recite her tales for me too?”

G’raha does not even wait for a response from his less chatty comrade before he parks himself beside her, the fur of his tail puffing up as it swishes from side to side. He is right at home among the other children, his ruby red eyes gleamed with a joy that hid years of pain beneath what shred of his childlike playfulness he’s regained, at least to those who were none the wiser. 

“Were you not part of a great deal of my adventures already?” The lalafell manages something of a smirk, which elicits a toothy grin from the miqo’te in return. 

“Not all of it, regretfully. And we hadn’t exactly the time to share much before. ‘Tis plain as day I’ve missed many chapters of your story.” 

That was a sentiment he’s expressed many times over now, first as the Exarch that she barely understood to the return of the eccentric allagan she’d traversed the crystal tower with. She never quite understood what change was until she’d seen him, and the consequence of his sacrifice manifesting as solid crystals that crept up his flesh like poisonous vines. And as much as she’d thought of the change he’s had to undergo, so too did the exarch echo her thoughts.

‘You’ve changed much since I last remembered you, my friend.’

And while she’d lamented what he became, hated knowing of the hardship he’s had to endure in her absence, the exarch celebrated her change. 

Here he was now, no longer the exarch.. but a man changed from his experiences all the same, excited to hear of what molded her to become the woman she is today - to hear of how she’d mustered the strength to change with the tides.

Illya finds herself at the mercy of his hopeful stare. The thought of shattering his excitement was perhaps a tad too much for her to bear.

“And who might you be, mister? You seem like an adventurer too! You must know the Warrior of Light really well!” What one child voiced out as they waved their arms excitedly in the air, their sentiments would be shared by their peers.

“Oh oh! Are you a hero too?? Wow! I didn’t know we’d get to talk to so many brave, strong heroes today!!”

G’raha’s face nearly bursts into a shade of red to match the hues of his hair, ears pressed flat against his head. Perhaps the him Illya knew many summers ago would have proudly proclaimed that he was, and she could almost hear that boisterous voice that had first challenged her ringing distantly in her ears. 

But she’s come to accept him as the same, as G’raha Tia. 

“Oh! No,no. I’m nobody of importance at all!”

After all, she too has changed much since their very first meeting, since the first time she’d trembled and shaken like a leaf upon hearing his disembodied voice at Urth’s Gift.

“If you self-deprecate again, G’raha.. I’m going to have to tell her.”

She needn’t speak of that name, and the man knew this with a terrified whip of his tail. Her remark was a jest, of course… glowing in confidence now though she may be, she was still nowhere on the level of her friend, who was the only other person who meant more to the allag prince than even she. But the frantic shake of his head would’ve proven that he knew otherwise.

“Oh, no please! I won’t say anything like that again today, I promise!” He was certain to incur his beloved’s wrath for his leaving his bed without asking permission first, he needn’t her be given another reason to grow more upset.

Illya’s heart soars, as does the voices of the children as they burst out laughing at the expense of a certain scion, but he was quick to recover himself with a smile and a nonchalant flick of his ears. Some things never do change in life. 

“So. About that story.”

He turns the crowd’s gazes back onto her, and the young lalafellin woman could not help but to droop her shoulders in defeat.

“Well.. I suppose I have a little more time for another story.”

Cheers erupted even above the usual bustling crowds of Mor Dhona, but the children were quick to settle down when the Warrior of Light snaps her book close with an exuberant smile. 

“So, what tale shall I tell?”


End file.
